Fate of the Esslings
by Queen Farli
Summary: Nat was an essling. A native of the Runespan. He saw, feared and hated the humans who leeched his brethren to death. No-one seemed to care but Nat was determined to escape and to live. One female human however was determined to capture him for her own ends. Will Nat survive?
1. The Decision

**Disclaimer: Runescape, Runespan and all of the creatures in the story belong to Jagex, the characters however _are_ mine, but youcan use them if you want :)**

**Queen Farli**

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Nat sighed, reminiscing on the unfairness of it all, life, the Runiverse and everything. '_What life?_' he snorted, the squeaking sound throwing him further into the bottomless void of self-pity.

Few however could deny Nat the right to be a little depressed, an essling born to a pair of Nature esshounds meant that his entire life in Essterra -or the Runespan as the solids call it- was spent being bullied by his Nature, Law, Chaos and even Cosmic brethren. It was not overly uncommon for an essling to be born of an esshound union but an air from two Natures? Unheard of, he should have been an Earth, only _Cosmic_ esshounds produce _airs_. To add to that his parents decided to call him 'Nat', practically the purest Nathound name there was. '_Yes_' he glowered '_Life is rubbish_'.

Nat sat on a floating island staring out at the devastation on its neighbours and wondered again why the solids, the _humans_, couldn't manage to get to them and why the essbeings on the other islands weren't running away to escape onto a safe island. Why did even Nat's own family stare wistfully at those murderous islands waiting forlornly for when the death of one of the Nathounds, or Bodyhounds, Coshounds, Chaoshounds or Lawhounds would mean that they too were summoned to one of the human populated islands. The Bodyhounds alone were ever killed for the solids seemed unable to leech the essence from the others and for this Nat was glad, his family were safe. Only the wise Astralhounds did not seem to care either way. Many a time Nat had attempted to query the prophets on those deep questions but always received what seemed to be an undecipherable riddle for his pains.

A couple of days after Nat had sat pondering on life, one of his best friends, an unprejudiced Bodyhound by the name of Doddy was snatched from right in front of him as they were talking. Running to the edge of his purple hued island Nat saw Doddy appear and instantly be viciously set upon by six humans in varying states of apparel but all with the same aim. They ripped out chunks of his essence ceaselessly and within seconds so much was stolen that he imploded, leaving only his bones which the humans also picked up and used to kill the next Body esshound that appeared, a pretty girl who he didn't recognise.

Nat's lamenting squeal for the fate of Doddy brought many running to find what the catastrophe was. Most instantly looked over the edge of the pinkish island to see if someone had fallen to the infinitive depths of the abyss below. It took almost an hour to console Nat enough for the more patient to get the full story and when they understood all the esshounds and esslings reared back in disgust. They thought him either a jealous or cowardly fool not for understanding the honour that Doddy had received and trotted off in scorn. Only his other best friend Astara remained. She was a youthful Astral esshound and not as out of it as the others of her race, she alone understood his grief and loneliness but to her frustration she could not make Nat understand as the others did. So she did the next best thing. She was there for him and she comforted him to the best of her ability.

For what seemed an eternity Nat stewed over the implosion of his friend until suddenly ne made up his mind. Without further ado he crept into the sleeping corner of his island and gently stole a few scales or a ruff off all of the essbeings sleeping there. He now had essence from every race on Middle Floor Runespan -as the humans with the blue skin and pointy heads call the world- aside from the Astralhounds. He was stumped, how was he to get that? Suddenly a wise old esshound by the name of Astran approached him. Nat had always been rather afraid of Astran and was now completely tongue tied as he tried, rather lamely, to explain what he was doing. Astran completely disregarded Nat's words and eyed him with a piercing gaze which suddenly glazed over as the Astral contacted the spirits. Just as the silent tension was getting too much for Nat Astral plucked a single ruff from his deep purple back and dropped it by Nat's snout. Then he walked off without looking back. Nat was totally bemused but appreciative of the support for his quest from one of the acclaimed wise men and prophets. He was uplifted and his essence swelled with hope. But now how could he do it?


	2. First Escape

After a long moment of staring at the glimmering essences a strange compulsion shuddered through his fluid body and to his terrified disbelief he felt himself start to absorb the collected essences of his family and 'friends' in the pile before him. They flowed in to him swiftly and violently and he spasmed each time one settled as it changed the whole structure of his body again and again. As the 11th essence settled in him a new sense of power flowed through his body. He was no longer limited to the confining shape of an air essling, he could take any!

With a deep breath Nat reached inside himself and summoned forth the essences of Nature, Body and Water. Stepping on to the mist platform he observed in a detached manner as his body dissolved and was transported onto another island. Shaking himself he resumed his natural form and glanced around. All the humans had frozen in shock as the bewildering sight which gave Nat the time to run away from the crowd. Once out of sight he transformed into an Earth essling, what he felt he should have been born if not a Nathound. The humans who were in hot pursuit ignored him and focused instead on an innocent air essling who was wandering about. Within moments they had ripped her to pieces.

One of the Humans spoke in that strange way of theirs which suggests supreme confidence, blasting their business out for all to see, but also cunning, it is a silent way off communicating so that they could sneak up on unsuspecting prey. '_Not that the prey here even cares_' Nat thought bitterly. Nat hadn't previously been fluent in Human but his Astral essence rose to the fore and he understood that they were upset that 'he' didn't put up more of a challenge. That clinched it for Nat, the Humans were essence-thirsty beasts whose only pleasure was in slaughter and Middle Floor Runespan was a dark, gloomy and above all dead world.

He needed to get out.

Suddenly he felt a pleasurable warmth start in his stomach and he automatically turned to face a human with green skin and a spotty tail which started at the shoulders. Dimly he wondered why humans came in so many species, no two even remotely the same colours, and why some had odd tails and some didn't, maybe it was rank? The warmth was building in his throat and he yawned to release it. Then he started in astonishment and horror and a globule of his own glittering essence was sucked towards the human. Instantly he felt substantially weaker. Already he felt another ball beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. This time he refused to let it out, much to the irritation of the human who had started to show strange symbols above his head '_Asterix_' the Astral in his mind informed him, rather pointlessly as he didn't really care.

Abruptly he turned and pulled away from the human's pull, understanding why his brethren did not run from it, it felt really nice. If he were feeling more charitable Nat may have felt some surprise and relief that the humans weren't hurting them at least but instead he just felt anger. In a flash he tried to reach inside himself to become a Nathound as it was obvious that these humans did not have the strength of mind, will or power to absorb from them. To his dismay he did not transform fully into a Nathound, his structure changed but he stayed in the rat-like form of an essling. The formerly furious human gave a 'w00t' of startled joy as Nat was forced to relinquish the warmth in his throat, apparently she managed to syphon nature runes off his essence.

Nat's ruse had turned against him as the human population of the whole island started after him, hopeful of the bounty. He ran. Leaping from platform to platform, expending his own essence to power them and he was followed at every turn. Nat despaired of ever escaping and thought about turning to fight, something that no essbeing had ever felt before. Just as he was about to make a stand, something unexpected happened. He fell down a hole with a weird earthen spike sicking up it. The humans would recognise it as the level vine but Nat had never even heard tell of such a thing.


	3. Found

When with a jarring thump Nat landed safely at the bottom of the winding vine, he was too stunned to do anything other than blink at the strange surroundings. It was lucky for him that the strange force that seemed to guide him forced his body to change of its own accord into its original form of an air essling, change islands and then to start copying the movement patterns of the others of his race who live in this strange, bright land of green and yellow. Glancing over the edge he was shocked to see an abyss as endless as his own yet of a colder, slightly more forbidding hue than his own warm, pinkish-grey abyss. He wondered distantly what happened to his own for looking up he could see no evidence of his former life. He suddenly felt very alone.

The humans who piled down the vine were stalled by the vast array of esslings that now surrounded them and, knowing that he could be any of them or even on a different island, most of them grumbled and returned up the vine for richer pickings. He was of no use as a normal essling anyway. Except one. Unbeknownst to Nat the she-human who had claimed his Nature essence was a very patient entrepreneur full of cunning, ambition and cruelty. Only her youth and the surprise of the acquisition of a sought-after 'member's rune' had made her cry out, an action she sincerely regretted and, knowing what she must do, she schemed.

Meanwhile Nat had regained his wits and was proceeding much more cautiously through the strange yet familiar land of Lower Floor Runespan. He exchanged a few cheerful greetings with the other esslings and was not looked at twice unless he used a platform, but esslings were generally much less intelligent or curious than their canine cousins and promptly forgot or disregarded the awesome feat. Nat of course was the exception, proving much more curious and intelligent than even some of the lower level esshounds- the Bodyhounds and Coshounds especially. Unfortunately this gave even more reason for standing out and being ostracised by his island's society. Thrusting those unhelpful and upsetting thoughts from his mind Nat continued his tour of the Lower Floor, looking for another hole to jump down (even to himself he refused to admit he fell). Slowly he started to despair as he couldn't find a way and no other esslings had a clue what he was talking about.

Nat was getting very dispirited and weary of his foolish adventure. He was also getting very tired and hungry. Nat realised that with his new powers he should have gone home in the guise of a Nature or Law essling for he would have been safe, there were no others that he could take the place of. He was reasonably surprised at the fact that he hadn't been called up during his time in his natural form because he found why esslings were birthed so often and grew so quickly; they were brought down here as well! This was evidenced by the confused squeaks of recently appeared esslings before they seemed to mysteriously forget that they had ever lived anywhere but the Lower Floor. All this contemplating did not disguise the fact that Nat was hungry and, spying a rock fragment on the island, he carelessly shifted into an earth essling to eat, pleased that for once there was no need to wait for or look for a cyclone to appear to feed as he had had to do in the past.

It was only by serious mischance that he failed to observe that a human, noticing his odd behaviour, had been following him for islands. And it was even worse luck that the human happened to be the same she-human who had found out his odd nature on the floor above. She hadn't been sure, platform hopping could be a reasonably common trait she just hadn't noticed, but the change of race clinched it. Her prey was there.

Time to make good of her plan. It was a surprisingly simple plan yet only a few could do it. It wasn't that it was a very difficult task, nor very skilful, no, it was just illegal. Few would have heard about it, let alone bothered to use it as the punishment used the spell against her for eternity. Wizard Wendly, for that was her name, didn't care about the consequences, she would never get caught. Slowly and silently Wendly snuck up on Nat who was too consumed with consuming the rock to notice. With a yell Wendly did the impossible. She used magic, runes, inside runespan. Her spell involved 14 **air **runes, 6 **earth**, 6 **water**, 23 **body** and **nature**, 2 **law** runes (that she snuck in against all regulations) and 51 **mind** runes. 'To seek through **air** when on the **earth** or in **water**. To focus on the **body** and the very **nature **of the being and to **teleport** to their position. Finally to force the **mind **to be receptive to the castor's whims'. She felt it a pity that she had no cosmic runes, for then she could have forced Nat to teleport to her. As she cast with all of her ambition; the runes fused into a malevolent crackling ball of essence. This buried itself deep inside Nat who squealed with pain as it polluted his body, leaving a residual ache which would remain until the spell's function was complete.

The backlash of the spell due to the fact that magic should not be performed in this realm knocked Wizard Wendly to her back and allowed Nat to escape. She just cackled manically, after all, that WAS the plan, let him run. It'd do him no good and she didn't have to care for him until she was ready. Sitting up she thought back on what drove her to this extreme. Wizardry was a man's job, few female wizards ever got anywhere and they were rarely seen, no, women were better off being witches and men rarely flourished in _that_ trade but potions and herbs didn't appeal to Wendly. No. She was drawn to the strength and power of the runes. She thought bitterly that only adventurers seemed to get anywhere in life but she was a coward and cared little to help others (even preferred to hinder and spite) so that was not the path for her. Slowly Wendy had become moderately skilled in both Magic and Runecrafting (when some adventurer helped rediscover it) but due to her laziness and cruelty, she was disliked and poor so the only runes she could get were those she crafted herself. Wendy could not be bothered to give the time needed to level up beyond 33, minimum level ascend the vine. Two more levels and she could petition to dimension jump to a land where she could leech off Chaos esshounds, but they would not listen to her petition before she proved she could work hard. She much preferred to steal, bribe and blackmail for luxuries and status but she always coveted being transferred to World 2, the original dimension for the best of the best. She needed to level-up _something_ to get there. Wendly cared little for Runecrafting but she'd get nowhere in magic without runes and that was where Nat would come in, a free and easy source of every rune imaginable, she'd be the best wizard in Runescape! She just needed to find out how much she could take at a time, and how long it took for the essence to regrow.

Off she walked to experiment, whistling a jaunty tune quite at odds with her intensions.


	4. True Escape?

Nat gave a great sigh of relief as he escaped the solid again. The pain in his chest worried him but much more pressing now was the need to get out of here, the presence in his head quite agreed. Quite by chance, Nat had ended up on the most dangerous yet wonderful island of them all. The Island where a Wizard Finix, one of four, was teleporting humans to and from a place called 'The Wizard's Tower'. Nat decided that anywhere was better than his current realm, but how to get there? After much observation of the humans he eventually leapt at one who was just about to be teleported, fastening the baggy blue shoulder-tail in his jaws. He was spun away out of Runespan, the first essbeing ever to leave.

The human he had attacked gave an unmanly shriek of shock as they arrived, and stumbled into the Wizard Finix who was guarding the portal to Runespan. Nat was off down and out of the tower before either human could react.

This new world frightened Nat. There was nothing even similar, the ground felt strange and was damp and the air tasted of strange and horrible things and worst of all: humans were everywhere. Nat was starting to deeply regret ever leaving his home as he stopped in an area of land with strange things growing everywhere, like the vines the Earth and Water esslings devoured back home or the large thing under the hole he fell down. Nat dimly recognised that as a larger, less edible type of vine. They darkened the world in a frightening way to a being whose world had always been a uniform shade of pink and purple with a dash of turquoise threaded through the rocks. All this fear and excitement was making Nat hungry but unfortunately for the essling, these trees in Draynor village too were inedible.

While Nat was exploring, Wendy was off talking to her equally disreputable accomplice, a high level crafter who had been a construction master in another dimension before being sent to this world in disgrace, where construction was nigh-on impossible, as a punishment for bullying and cheating at his trade. Bangers, the half-dwarf, was willing to help build a cage to hold an essling as long as he got 1 million gp over time from Wendly's high alching and selling runes or whatever. Wendly had impatiently agreed, her only concern was for runes at the moment, money could come later. It gave her time to work out how to cheat him anyway. Together they started the cage.

A frightened and confused Nat inadvertently stumbled across a vicious group of humans and, surrounded and desolate, he shut his eyes and waited to be leeched dry. Instead he was astonished to feel his essence splitting to let a long silver thing wielded by a male human- a sword, the presence supplied- slip through his body harmlessly. The guards were even more surprised to see that they couldn't hurt this _thing_; they could even harm ghosts so what was this otherworldly creature? With terror, they fled. After a few seconds Nat smiled as he realised something: not all humans knew how to kill him, here he was safe.

Even as Nat was rejoicing, Wendly and Bangers were finishing the cage and imbuing the bars with numerous spells, the runes for which she bought at great expense from the Wizard's Tower as the Grand Exchange was only for Adventurers, another unfair bias, and the keeper of the Magic Shop in Varrok hated her. That wasn't fair either! She only stole a few death runes! But he was so mean about it that she'd never pay him back now! The spells she cast she created herself and, as a finishing touch, Wendly added a water pool at the bottom to feed the essling, water was the easiest to control and the least dangerous, anyway she'd always had an affinity with water spells.


	5. Dying

It took the despicable duo just over a week to fully make the cage and in that time Nat was feeling worse than ever. Although the weapons of Runescape could not harm him there were a few wizards and Runecrafters who had recognised him for what he was and leeched from him. However air essence seemed the least sought after so when in that form the humans gave up the chase quickly. Nat understood the irony that with the ability to change into any race, he was safest in his original form. Nevertheless, although little could harm him, little could also help him. Nothing from that realm was edible to an essling and although he could eat carelessly discarded runes and rune or pure essence there was not enough to sustain him.

By the time Wendly activated her beacon to teleport her to Nat's side he had already collapsed and was close to death by starvation. His mind reverted to a primitive state he wouldn't have been able to move if it wasn't for Wendly's compulsion in the spell. The astral essence in him translated the meaning of the words of her rather distressed coaxing claim that she had food if he'd just follow her. They made a strange duo but no-one dared disturb the wizard and her beastie. Especially not _that_ wizard.

Eventually they made it to Bangers' dungeon; he built it himself as any Construction master could boast. Wendly breathed a sigh of relief when, after throwing him in the cell, Nat laboriously changed forms to a water essling and started to eat. Wendly was too self-centred to find relief from the fact that Nat was to be alright, her only worry was that her free rune supply would die making all of her hard work and the spending of all her money on rune essences worthless. Seeing Nat recover, the poisonous pair retired upstairs to discuss business.

After he had recovered Wendly started to leech Nat, she forced him to change form by changing the food source so he would have to change to ear and attacking him with spells to induce hunger until he complied. She always drained 9 essences then waited three seconds for his body to replenish itself before draining him again. Nat constantly felt exhausted and seriously ill from the strain, his body wasn't designed for that torment. Maybe in Essterra-the Runespan- he could have survived but in this harsh world where even the air, his vassal, was against him he wasted away. Greedy Wendly saw this but, not understanding the reasons, she simply drained him more and more, to get the most out of her prisoner before he died.

Finally, at the urging of all his essences, the wisdom of the astral essences saying anything would be better than this, and the presence's encouragement, Nat started to slip away…then suddenly grabbed back to life with all his strength! It was only when the soothing voices of Astara and Astran, his friend and the prophet, the Astralhounds of his homeland told him to let go did he finally give up his tenuous cling to life. Nat faded away in a violent implosion which destroyed many of the runes Wendly had stockpiled. The last thing Nat heard was her cry of fury before the darkness of death overtook him.


	6. Reason and Reward

Nat opened his eyes. Then he realised how odd that was, how it probably meant he hadn't died and would soon be tortured for his essence again. He screwed his eyes shut in anguish. Then he was startled by a gentle yet immense voice calling his name. It was the voice of the presence! Looking behind him he saw a shapeless mass of power, all power, overwhelming yet gentle, icy but warm, cruel to be kind. "I am Guthix" the presence decreed. "The essbeings are my creations. What, child, do you wish to know?"

A surge of white-hot anger engulfed Nat as Guthix explained that he created their world and started to form true life on it, with rats, wolves and giants being the purest beings in the Runiverse, the most attuned to the elements which can be imbued into runestones. Guthix described how he stopped building that world and left the creatures beings of energy then let the humans in to harvest them at their leisure, to improve all the dimensions of Runescape in existence. Nat couldn't contain himself: "HOW DARE YOU!" he roared "How dare you create sentient beings whose only purpose is to die for the betterment of some other, arrogant beings?" Guthix just gave a knowing smile and once more explained. Beings of essence never truly died, they were just reborn where ever they wished in any form for eternity to play and to help. They had to 'die' each time for in order for there to be Balance something must be destroyed for everything made. Then Guthix imbued Nat with the essences of ALL runes and made him The Essemental. He would be the Teacher, the one who would travel and explain and help those like him who feared and misunderstood the donation. It was a pleasurable experience, it only hurt Nat due to the excess and being out of his element, essbeings would never truly die.

Nat travelled all the dimensions helping and teaching yet he always returned to the wisdom of Guthix and the companionship of Astara, Doddy and Astran who soon joined him in his work. For the first time in his eternity, Nat was happy and content.

The End


	7. Epilogue What Happened to Wendly?

Although Nat was rewarded, what happened to the scheming Wendly and the greedy Bangers? Guthix cursed Bangers to never be able to construct or craft again but Wendly needed a much more subtle punishment. Guthix quietly appraised the Duke of Lumbridge, the King of Varrok and the White Knights of Falador as well as all the Wizards of Runescape of her crime and they converged upon the little house with the large dungeon. They would never have risen to help a mere beast but for the intervention of a God, it set them thinking. Bangers sold her out instantly, the coward that he was, and the Powers of Misthalin decreed punishment.

For the rest of eternity Wendly would be condemned to craft runes and work for money and goods, but whenever an adventurer- the craft for which she held the most resent for-, a witch or a wizard cried out in need for runes she would be teleported to them and forced to give up her earning without complaint. This was a much harsher version of the spell she inflicted upon Nat but for her cruelty and lack of compassion all thought it fitting. The ache in her chest would never fade, her hunger never satisfied and her exhaustion never remedied. She was cursed to always relinquish the fruits of her labours whatever they may be: ores, gems, runes, fish, herbs, gold pieces-for her greed; forever giving. And so the most ingenious and heartless of all Wizards, Wendly EssenceThief, was banished from the eleventh dimension to where she had always wished to be, the second dimension. Here she could imbue cosmic, chaos, nature, law, blood, death and astral runes to her heart's content yet never be free to use them.

Across the realm she was heralded as a saviour, a blessed being (though really she was cursed, and this pleased Guthix's balanced sense of humour greatly) the one who would give runes to the needy, money to the poor, food to the sick. For many it would have been an acceptable sacrifice for the praise and gratitude, but for Wendly who lived off having more and being better than any other and who scorned helping others, it was even more of a punishment. She became even more bitter and cruel on the inside all the while forced to give a pleasant façade.

If the female Wizard had ever learnt to be generous, to release her greed and to feel pleasure in helping others then she would be freed. It may yet happen, even though it hasn't yet.

But I doubt it.


End file.
